# Create a GitHub license

From **GitHub v3 REST API**.

`POST /setup/api/start`

When you boot a GitHub instance for the first time, you can use the following endpoint to upload a license.

Note that you need to `POST` to [`/setup/api/configure`](https://docs.github.com/enterprise-server@3.0/rest/reference/enterprise-admin#start-a-configuration-process) to start the actual configuration process.

When using this endpoint, your GitHub instance must have a password set. This can be accomplished two ways:

1.  If you're working directly with the API before accessing the web interface, you must pass in the password parameter to set your password.
2.  If you set up your instance via the web interface before accessing the API, your calls to this endpoint do not need the password parameter.

**Note:** The request body for this operation must be submitted as `application/x-www-form-urlencoded` data. You can submit a parameter value as a string, or you can use a tool such as `curl` to submit a parameter value as the contents of a text file. For more information, see the [`curl` documentation](https://curl.se/docs/manpage.html#--data-urlencode).

## Request body

- Required: true
### `application/x-www-form-urlencoded`

- Type: `object`

```json
{"properties":{"license":{"description":"The content of your _.ghl_ license file.","type":"string"},"password":{"description":"You **must** provide a password _only if_ you are uploading your license for the first time. If you previously set a password through the web interface, you don't need this parameter.","type":"string"},"settings":{"description":"An optional JSON string containing the installation settings. For a list of the available settings, see the [Get settings endpoint](https://docs.github.com/enterprise-server@3.0/rest/reference/enterprise-admin#get-settings).","type":"string"}},"required":["license"],"type":"object"}
```

## Responses

### `202`

Response

## Request examples

### cURL

```shell
curl --request POST \
  --url {protocol}://{hostname}/api/v3/setup/api/start \
  --header 'content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
  --data '{
  "license": "string",
  "password": "string",
  "settings": "string"
}'
```